I was planning on just watching everyone jump into the new year with the scrappy challenge at SoScrappy. My mind was a blank. Until I saw the cats at Mystic Quilter. Then I was jealous. Then I decided I would try and lure those cats off of her quilt...so that meant birds or fish. I saw this swan used in a quilt in Quilts Japan #4. It looks like an origami crane to me. So that is what I'm going to use as a lure for those cats. Except just making this one about drove me crazy and took longer than I would ever admit to.

I didn't want to figure out how to make the beak (the crane's bill?) every time I made a block, so I decided to make the beaks all at once. I cut strips of the background fabric and marked the center of each 2 inch square (first photo). (This mark is upside down and is really the bottom of the beak). After marking, I cut the two inch squares from the strips. Then I set the squares on the yellow or orange scraps and sewed from my chalk mark to the corner (second photo).  Then I trimmed away the excess (photo 3). And now I have all the beaks I will need so I won't have to rethink that fussy bit each time. Now I have to go make some more blue cranes/swans to catch up with the challenge and link up tomorrow.